Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Say, anyone know how I get a sweet gig as a teacher in Illinois?

As Illinois citizens struggle with the severe economic downturn plaguing the state, [the state's] public school employees enjoy another record year of salaries, fringe benefits and pensions.

In 2011 an amazing 14,866 public school employees made more than $100,000, up 18% from 2010’s 12,588.

Apparently there is no tax money for the barren shelves at food pantries or the lack of beds at homeless shelters or to support the handicapped.

But there is enough tax money to pay for:

• A Phys. Ed teacher $203,154 for a 9 month work year. • 14,866 teachers made more than $100,000 in 2011. • 21 who made more over $1,000/day ($170,000/yr.) • A Drivers Ed teacher who salary is $18,222/month to teach teenagers how to parallel park. • 13 teachers make more than the Governor’s $177,500. • Top 100 Teachers average $18,169 per month salary ($163,579/yr).

And all of that is for a 36-week work-year (182 day contracts).

These Top 100 Salaries Do Not Include Massive Amounts of Fringe Benefits

Add about $48,000 each for state pension contribution (30% of salary) and at least $7,500/yr health insurance benefits. Then include 15 days sick leave payable at retirement if not used, 2 personal days [a year] and up to $300,000 payment to the Teachers Retirement System by the local school district if they decide to take early retirement (see "Anatomy of a Teachers Contract" here).

And what is the value of a guaranteed $100,000 job (called “Tenure”) for as long as you want it?

Bill Zettler asks, "Should public employees who average a mere 32 years of 9 month work retire at an average age of 57 with an average payout of $3.7 million?"

After only 20 months of retirement, the average teacher will have received more in pension benefits than the sum total of all of their contributions.

For instance, Karen Koval, a dance teacher, received a taxpayer-funded $188,837 early retirement payout. That will be added to her salary of $165,888, for a taxpayer total of $354,725. Therefore, dance teacher Koval will retire with a pension that will payout about $3.5 million over her expected lifetime.

My mother was a teacher for many years at a high school in downstate Illinois, far from Chicago. Even after long service, she never could have dreamed of a salary like these, and I can assure you that her pensions is...not lavish. Scanning the top 100 spreadsheet, the vast majority (like say, 95-ish percent) are in or around Chicago. There's your problem.

As long as Illinois voters keep electing Democrats, none of this will change.

Oh, sure, you'll hear some pols over the next year talk about how teachers pay increases are going to stop. You'll mostly hear this in the months before elections.

But it won't happen. Teachers' unions can reliably deliver lots and lots of votes. Democrat politicians are never going to willingly give up taking your money and giving it to their friends and supporters, because it keeps those politicians employed in the sweetest little looting operation known to man.

The State Politicians have to negotiate these salaries with the powerful Teachers Unions who provide the money to elect the State Politicians. They just get together and hand the bill to the hapless taxpayers. The system, as the socialist unions have envisioned it, is not sustainable.